He
also discovered that ten or fifteen other employees had been given a
similar opportunity by their generous employer at about the same time.
John, in prison, says it was a scheme to keep fifty or a hundred shares
where it could easily be controlled by the president, without risk to
himself, in case of need. Of course, he may be wrong. At any rate, he
feels bitterly now toward the big men who are at large while he is in
jail.
John continued to keep up with the acquaintances formed during his years
in the broker's office, many of whom had started little businesses of
their own and had done well. Part of their stock-in-trade was to appear
prosperous and they took John out to lunch, and told him what a fine
fellow he was, and gave him sure tips. But John had grown "wise." He had
had all the chances of that sort he wanted, and from a bigger man than
any of them. He ate their lunches and invited them in return. Then he
economized for a day or two to even up. He was not prosperous himself,
but he did not accept favors without repaying them.
One thing he observed and noted carefully--every man he knew who had
begun a brokerage business and kept sober, who attended to business and
did not speculate, made money and plenty of it.
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